Art of Living Guru Puja

Performing pujas as a ritual was an integral part of my growing up years. Belonging to Madhwa Brahmin community meant there was a ritual almost every month. Yes, ritual, that is all it was to me. Significance of every ritual was told to us ,children , but hardly do I remember feeling merged with the divine that everything else went in to oblivion while performing rituals.

Till I sat on the Art of Living Guru Puja program.

My unshakeable faith in Sri Sri, our beloved Gurudev prompted me to take the Guru Puja program. The sheer joy of Bhanu Didi’s presence, her simplicity and innocence, Guru stories, playful and yet focused in drilling us left me in pure bliss. I completed the course completely awe struck! Nobody had guided me before to feel the divinity abound around a seemingly simple act of performing a puja.

While performing Guru puja, I feel deep connection with my Master. The whole process soaks me in an ocean of gratitude. I am aware of the state of my mind before and after puja too. The act of gathering flowers and other materials for puja is celebrative. Cleaning and setting up a spot to perform puja is celebrative. Preparing Prasad is celebrative. Dressing up is celebrative.

After the puja is over, just to look at the Mantap full of flowers, fruits, lit silver lamps and to inhale the fragrance of incense sticks, to feel the aura of Guru’ s presence is extremely fulfilling — a state of ‘ I want nothing more from life’.

Oh yes, I was chanting and performing puja before doing my Guru puja course too. But, the difference it has made to me after the course is beyond expression.